Your Right to Know

View SlideshowRequest to buy this photoTOM DODGE | DISPATCH PHOTOSKaitlin Perchalski of Bushnell, Ill., cleans mats outside a tent at the All American Quarter Horse Congress. Perchalski’s horse, Platinum, stayed in a stall in the tent for a week during the show.

The world’s largest single-breed horse show is again making noise about ditching the Ohio Expo
Center and moving to another state.

Officials of the All American Quarter Horse Congress told the Ohio Expositions Commission
recently that the show has outgrown the 360-acre fairgrounds and participants are complaining. The
congress’s 10-year contract with the commission runs through 2015, and no negotiations have started
about its renewal.

“People say to us all the time, ‘You’ve got the greatest horse show; why aren’t you in the
greatest facility?’ ” said Dr. Scott Myers, executive director of the Ohio Quarter Horse
Association, which puts on the congress. The association offices are in Richwood in Union
County.

The show has been held at the fairgrounds since it began as a three-day event in 1967. It has
grown to 24 days in October, and studies show it pours $180 million into the local economy each
year.

Brian Ross, the chief executive officer of Experience Columbus, said he will work with public
and private leaders “to find out what needs to be done to have the congress stay here.” The
congress is the largest-attended event in Columbus, and “we definitely don’t want them going
anywhere,” he said.

Rob Nichols, a spokesman for Gov. John Kasich, said on Friday that “the Quarter Horse Congress
has a long, successful history in Ohio, and we will continue to explore ways to make sure the
congress has what it needs to continue to succeed in Ohio.”

Myers said he has talked with officials at venues outside Ohio. He wouldn’t name the
locations.

He told Ohio Expo commissioners that the fairgrounds has 1,200 horse stalls under roof, and the
congress needs 5,000, so it spends $700,000 a year to rent temporary stalls and tents.

“We’re probably the only horse show in the world that puts horses in tent-stalls in Ohio at this
time of the year,” Myers said. The tents can flood when it rains and make it difficult to keep
horses and riders warm, he said.

This year, the congress had 3,892 participant requests for stalls in buildings, which cost $350.
Stalls in tents cost $175.

Not all the participants are there for the entire show.

At least two venues — the Will Rogers Equestrian Center in Fort Worth, Texas, and the State Fair
Park in Oklahoma City — could accommodate the congress. Will Rogers has nearly 2,500 horse stalls,
and the Oklahoma facility has nearly 3,000. Both have more show rings and newer facilities than the
Expo Center.

Tim O’Toole, the president and chief executive officer of the 430-acre State Fair Park, said

$90 million has been spent on improvements since 2005, including renovating or replacing its
nine barns. The money came from the area’s hotel-motel tax.

O’Toole said he hasn’t talked with anyone about moving the congress to Oklahoma City.

David Reeves, the director of sales for the Will Rogers Center, said officials there haven’t
talked with the congress. He said they haven’t pursued the show because of its deep roots in
Ohio.

Other states offer financial incentives for events such as the congress, but Ohio does not,
Myers said. Instead, congress officials have spent millions over the years to build facilities at
the fairgrounds, including three pavilions used as exercise rings.

The congress wants to add events but can’t because of lack of space, Myers said. He’s
disappointed that the fair’s new master plan — still in the works — doesn’t include a new building
south of the Celeste Center that congress officials had suggested.

Last year, the Ohio General Assembly included $1 million in its budget for that master plan
after the congress lobbied for the money.

Fair manager Virgil Strickler said commissioners would consider adding a building if it could be
used by other fairgrounds customers as well. He said the congress needs to make a formal proposal
for fairgrounds additions and be willing to help pay the cost.

The commission’s draft capital-budget request for state money includes $12 million to build a
building for the congress.

A task force of congress and Expo Center officials has met once, and more meetings are planned,
Myers said. Extending the congress by a few days at the beginning of its run to accommodate
additional competitions is a possibility, he said.

“We’re from Ohio, and we want to stay here,” he said. “But negotiations for a contract will have
to wait until we see what facility improvements are going to take place.”